Tempest
by Lady.Bronte
Summary: Spock...it isn't my time to die.


So...it's been a while.

I'm sorry to my Uncharted readers (if there are any left).

This is a bit of a departure from my usual work; I tried out angst just to see if I could do it. This story has an inkling towards a universe I have written in the past where I wrote another angst fic called **Death and All His Friends**. It had a companion piece too called **Battle of the Alpha Quadrant** but I didn't get much response so for the meantime it's on hiatus.

Anyway, do enjoy!

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**It's the calm before the storm...**

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The rain pelted down on him like wildfire, igniting his skin and soaking his bones. His uniform clung to his slender body like a scabbard, emphasizing every feature and facet of his essence like a Michelangelo. Thunder rumbled through his core, sending tremors throughout his skeleton like a violent earthquake, its clamour tearing gaping holes into the drenched, soaked ground beneath his feet.

Droplets of scorching rain trailed down his chiselled jawbone, dripping eagerly from his sodden locks of hair. He threw his head back and laughed at the broken sky, taunting it, daring it to rain harder on his body and soak him to the very soul.

The wind raged like a torrent around him, goading the wilful challenger to run away, to surrender. Jim sneered in its face and continued his ministrations, revelling in the sizzling heat of the sky against his butterscotch skin. He grinned, flashing his teeth at the churning clouds like an explosion of lightning, spurring more and more hatred within the storm system thus awakened, eyes wild and teeth bared.

The moon planet was known for its fantastical storms, striking fear into those who dared to face them. Visitors came from nearby systems to witness their shocking magnificence, to stand in the middle of them and be surrounded by churning Technicolor clouds and tepid torrents of rain. The natives of the planet, eagerly anticipating their admittance into the United Federation of Planets, had invited the Enterprise's most courageous thrill seekers for the ride of their lives into the hellish storm and Jim wasn't about to say no.

He knew he was at the brink of danger as a thousand bolts of electricity surged from the merciless sky. It probed endlessly for its next victim across the rocky precipice, the magnificent brink. Jim stood upon it now, staring out across the infinite stretch of ocean while the tempest raged on overhead in a furious flurry of sound and vehemence, passion and wrath.

Two feet away, his soaking first officer stood sentinel, watching with lidded eyes as his captain reigned in madness, laughing wildly at the ruthless sky. He could feel the adrenaline running through his merlot veins from where he rested, the human's emotions skittering haphazardly across the humid air like errant beams of light. He refrained from immersing himself in them or studying their depth within the frameworks of his mind, shutting him out entirely instead and choosing to examine him physically as a substitute.

He was not disappointed.

The human had rid himself of his golden tunic long ago, its luminous hues lying absently on a rock not far away. Clad only in his undershirt and trousers, the young Vulcan was given unrestricted access to the musculature of his agile body, arched in an open invitation to the torrential sky. The storm was hammering his toffee skin pitilessly, leaving him dripping in searing, hot rain.

The Vulcan's lips parted, exhaling a sweltering breath from his constricted lungs. The heat of the downpour was pleasant against his skin but it wasn't enough to null him of the emotions coursing through his system, driving him into a tempestuous mentality that forced him to step forward.

His inner eyelids were doing nothing to keep the scorching rain out of his eyes as he stepped forward, having been bred for the resilience of sandstorms, not precipitation. He kept his blurred vision on his captain as he closed in, quick to fill the empty void of space.

"Who needs roller coasters when you've got this?" Jim howled at the sky, his cerulean irises gleaming in the flares of light chasing each other across the clouds. Spock observed his euphoric smile and was thrust into a litany of confusion and grief, his hypothesis finally making sense.

"Why do you take such pleasure in impending death?"

Jim turned his head towards him and grinned, his eyes dancing dangerously, "I won't be dying anytime soon Spock."

Spock raised his eyebrows incredulously, "A gamble."

"It isn't my time to die."

The finality of his words struck a chord within him; it was irrational, unfounded even, but the Vulcan's thoughts were too clouded by the tumult of emotion running throughout the thetawaves. He steeled himself against the onslaught as a shard of lightning made contact with the oceans only a few yards away from them, hurling a jolt of terror through Jim's nervous system, fighting with him to run away. He fought them valiantly and remained where he was, parked at the precipice of a gouging cliff where he would fall to his death, should he falter.

"I've forgotten what it feels like," Jim muttered absently, the whispered words coursing from his lips like errant drops of water. They drifted outwards, barely embracing his sensitive ears before being carried away.

The Vulcan turned towards him again, this time truly allowing his eyes to graze along Jim's striking profile. He finally forced himself to stop, honing into the azure depths of his glistening eyes and the secrets that lie there.

They revealed nothing.

Spock indulged himself, "What is it that you have forgotten?"

"What it's like to stand at the edge of a cliff," he said through gritted teeth, "What it's like to be this close," Jim lifted his hand and motioned with his fingers, pinching them together so that only a small fraction of space between his thumb and his digits remained. Spock swallowed and looked on, digesting his words as he gazed at the tumultuous skies.

"Why?"

The sound of Jim's laughter startled him and he forced his gaze back onto the wild human, unnerved and utterly unsettled, "Do you know what it's like to feel fear Spock?" Jim asked suddenly, his eyes feral, "Do you know what it's like to stare death in the face?"

He was too captivated to step away, to remove himself from the emotional turn their conversation had taken. He remained rooted in his spot, thunder roaring overhead, lightning skittering through the skies in a deadly dance, rain hammering down, "Yes."

Jim turned towards him, his eyes widened with an emotion he couldn't immediately recognize. He held his breath, frozen beneath his untamed glare, "So you do feel?"

The atmosphere around them changed, Jim's emotions reeling like a tornado amidst the already turbulent current. He could feel his answer without thinking it, already knowing what to say, "You already know the answer to that question."

For the first time since he had followed him out here, Jim's eyes quieted and were reclaimed by the Jim that he knew, "And yet you deny it."

Beads of rain trailed down Spock's slender lips as they curved into a smile, forcing Jim's eyes wide as he witnessed the rare display of emotion, "I will continue to."

Jim laughed loudly, throwing his head back in elation as the water cascaded onto his skin. It was not the feral laugh Spock had claimed witness to before; rather, it was one of defeat, one of surrender. He turned his entire body towards Spock and motioned with his hand towards the cliff.

"If you couldn't turn back, would you jump?"

Spock did not turn to gaze at the crashing, turbulent waves against the foot of the cliff like Jim would have guessed, nor did he take his eyes away from the young human in front of him. He was lost in the chaotic cerulean waves churning just before him, in the eyes of his captain, in the eyes of his friend.

"You will always be able to return. You will always be forgiven."

Jim turned away, the anguish on his face forcing Spock's control down another level, "Twenty officers Spock. Twenty. And I could have stopped it."

Spock closed his eyes and swallowed the lump growing in his throat, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

"No!"

Jim spun around and gripped Spock by his shoulders, digging his irate fingers into the Vulcan's hot flesh, "No one should be sacrificed, no one should have to die for this! I've had it with this assignment, with the greater good! It's killing my men for Christ's sakes, and it's starting to kill me!"

Spock dragged his eyes away for a moment, grasping desperately to the final tendrils of logic now slipping past his fingers. He clenched them into fists and let another heated breath past his parted lips, the cloud of moisture intermingling with the atmosphere. The gravity of the situation was beginning to weigh on him as well.

"We cannot abandon this mission Jim. You know as well as I do that countless lives are at stake."

"I know damnit, I know," the young blond turned away and sighed, staring blankly towards the violent horizon, "But why does it have to be so damn hard?"

Spock did not answer, knowing instinctively that his response wasn't necessary. He remained at his captain's side as the storm wore on, its energy slowly drawing away until the first signs of light began to break through the clouds. The rain slowed to an idle drizzle and once the final drops had fallen from the clouds, Jim finally made his move to walk away.

Spock quickly followed on his heels, "The Gnoroids have requested your presence tomorrow morning. We should return to the ship in order to prepare."

Jim sighed, running his fingers through his sopping hair, "Lead the way."

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So, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please review! (Especially from the Uncharted readers...if I don't get inspired soon it might join BAQ in hiatus hell as well)

Love and fluff,

Brontë


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